Lyubov Tolkalina

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The busy streets of modern-day Moscow are the playground for You I Love, a lively dramedy about the sexual ins and outs and class strivings of young professionals. Think of it as Almodóvar Lite in a big fur hat.

Timofei (Evgeny Koryakovsky) is a yuppie to be reckoned with, an adman whose latest slogan, "Freedom is Cola," has made him a star at his agency. He enjoys all the trappings of success, including a lovely apartment and an even lovelier girlfriend, Vera (Lyubov Tolkalina), a TV anchorwoman.

With its matter-of-fact, almost lighthearted depiction of open sexualityand homosexuality in modernized Moscow, "You I Love" may be culturallygroundbreaking in Russian cinema, but out of that context, it's littlemore than a comedy-drama of shorthand emotions and unlikely relationships.

Fast and choppy (at 83 minutes), and sometimes deliberatelycheesy (as a comical riff on the main character's job in TV advertising),the story expects one to believe that a homeless, Eurasian-hillbilly daylaborer -- so unsophisticated that he's baffled by the magic machines thatdispense cash outside of banks -- is such a master of gay seduction thatin one evening he can come between a new-economy yuppie and his intelligent,drop-dead gorgeous, sexual-dynamo girlfriend.

But even if this life-changing encounter wasn't so hardto buy, the resulting relationship certainly is. These two men have notone thing in common outside the bedroom. Timofei (Evgeny Koryakovsky) worksin an international office and owns his own condo (where he inexplicablygoes to sleep at night with his front door wide open), while Uloomji (DamirBadmaev) sleeps in the zoo and spreads honey on toast with unwashed fingers.

The film begins with the hetero romance, which is contagiouslycharming even though it has credibility problems of its own: She's sexyand famous (a TV news reader) and he's a wishy-washy nerd in designer suits.Actress Lyubov Tolkalina, who looks like a more accessible and vulnerableAngelina Jolie, has the talent to keep the first act afloat by genuinelyselling her insecure, almost obsessive adoration for her skinny, milksoplover.